Audio and video conferencing is becoming increasingly popular as an efficient method for people at different remote locations to collaborate on projects. Office, or other workplace environments, may often include relatively large numbers of workers, each at a desk in an open space area, and each with an audio system or device for conversing with other parties. These workers (device users) may be situated relatively close to each other, with little or no acoustic insulation between them. Unfortunately, groups of people working in close proximity and engaging in concurrent calls or conference calls generally create interfering noise that distracts and disturbs their neighboring workers.
Existing solutions to this problem tend to focus on noise isolation techniques that are implemented to assist a particular user, while leaving other neighboring users to cope with the situation on their own. As a result, many of the parties involved (the neighboring users) typically try to speak louder which exacerbates the problem. Noisy environments may degrade working conditions and result in loss of productivity. Other solutions attempt to address the problem with audio headsets that include relatively complex systems (for example, noise cancelling headphones) which may be expensive to provide to every user and which are generally not effective, particularly at higher audio frequencies.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.